Thaw
by LilPotterfanfic
Summary: "Anna glanced hesitantly back in the direction of the castle. Hans was back there. And Aurelia. Why on Earth would she leave Aurelia in charge of the kingdom? Anna looked forward. Corona stretched out in front of her. That's where Elsa was. She looked to her right. Hiccup, Merida, Jack, Rapunzel, Kristoff, Olaf. All waiting for her to decide. 'Anna' She blinked. 'Let's go.'"
1. The Girl in the Tower

**Thaw**  
><strong>Chapter 1: The Girl In the Tower<strong>  
><strong>Summary: When the grandfather troll tells a ten year old Princess Elsa that fear will be her greatest enemy, he has no idea how true his words will ring. Shortly after defeating Pitch for the first time, Jack Frost and the rest of the Gaurdians of Childhood find themselves locked in another battle with the bogey man, over none other than the Kingdom of Arrendelle; but this time, there will be more hardships than they'd ever imagined. You see, the Guardians can't do it on their own, and they're going to need the help of nine, very unlikely persons. First there's Elsa's younger sister: the scatterbrained, blabber mouthed second princess of Arrendelle, Anna; along with witty ice-seller, Kristoff, and his puppy-like reindeer, Sven. Then there's Olaf, the talking snowman with an abject fascination for all things warm; and Flyyn Rider, the narcissitic theif who somehow winds up injured and close to death on Elsa's doorstep. Throw in Rapunzel, the ex-magical girl who was locked in a tower all her life, only to be saved by Jack and North; Merida, the fiery princess of a Scottish clan; and Hiccup, a dragon tamer who isn't as awkward as he seems, and you've got the perfect teammates for Jack Frost, the playful spirit of winter fun. As Jack, Rapunzel, Anna, Kristoff, Merida, and Hiccup set off on a dangerous journey through the frozen landscape, they leave Aurelia, the shy, youngest princess of Arrendelle, to fend off the greedy Duke of Wessleton and the not-so-evil Prince Hans of the Seven Isles. Little do they know that Pitch isn't working alone this time either; in fact, he's only doing the dirty work for a far more terrifying villain.<strong>

It was Christmas.

It was Christmas, and for the first time, Jack Frost wasn't alone.

As the sleigh rose higher into the winter sky, thanks to the helpful wind spirit, Jack let loose an exhilarated laugh, tightening his hand on the edge of the sleigh and extending his other arm, letting the cold fly across his chest and side like he had wings.

"Hold on, Jack!" North called back to him in his heavily accented voice. "We're almost over Arrendelle!"

Jack nodded, hopping back into the sleigh, and looked down below as the lights of the kingdom drew nearer and nearer.

Arrendelle had always been one of his favorite places to visit. It was there that Jamie lived, the first child to ever believe in him. It was also where the Guardians' battle with Pitch had taken place the previous year.

But it was more than even all of that. A kingdom that experienced the harshest winters and warmest summers, most of the children in Arrendelle had developed an unwavering belief in Jack Frost, and after nearly an millennium of being invisible, he couldn't get enough of the place.

"Wha- Jack, do you see that?" North sounded confused, and Jack lumbered up and over to the front of the sleigh.

"See what?" he asked, coming to stand next to the furred man.

North pointed a finger at the tree line, the sleeve of his robe rolling down just enough to see the word 'Naughty' tattooed across the forearm, and Jack's keen eyes immediately landed on what had attracted North's attention: A tower in the middle of nowhere.

"Yeah," Jack confirmed, unable to help the suspicion flaring up inside of him, "I see it."

The tower must have been at least fifty feet tall and sat right on the border between Arrendelle and its neighboring kingdom, Corona. Despite its height it was only visible from the air, as dense forest ringed around it in a thick border.

No one would build a tower in a place like that without meaning to. Whoever lived there didn't want to be found.

So why could Jack and North so clearly sense the spirit of a child who believed in them down there?

"We're going down, aren't we?" Jack asked, not even looking at his companion.

Instead of answering, North snapped the reigns of the sleigh and the reindeer began their tumultuous descent, somehow silent despite the bells attached to their harnesses.

The sleigh plummeted down, wind rushing up to meet Jack's face in a cold blast, and finally landed on the frosted surface of a pond, cracks rushing across the ice as the treads jarred on impact.

There was a jingle of bells and a squeaking sound as a stow away elf fell from the back of the sleigh and landed on the ice. Jack and North ignored the wayward little fellow and hopped out, cautiously making their way toward the foot of the tower.

"How should we do this, eh?" North asked, a hand on the hilt of each of his swords.

Jack squinted up at the structure, Manny winking at him from just behind the pointed roof.

"There's a window," he mumbled, tossing his staff up and down in his hands. "Hey Wind!" he called loudly, turning to face the frozen pond. "Mind taking us up there?"

"Jack, I do not know about this," North said nervously, taking a step back.

Jack didn't even bother to look back at him. "Don't tell me you're scared of heights- like Bunny," he teased, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Nonsense," North insisted, "I simply-"

But the wind didn't wait for him to finish talking and swept both of them into the air, blowing them fifty feet up before they were thrown through the open window and into the dark tower.

"Warning would have been nice," North stated from where he lay sprawled in a pane of square-shaped moonlight.

Jack shrugged, leaping down from the window sill and letting his staff trail along the cobblestone floor, freezing it. "Not my style- you should know that by now."

Before he could utter another word, he felt something whoosh past him and ducked, catching the thin arm of a child and pulling it in closer to him, narrowly missing the frying pan launched at his head.

"Whoa there," he exclaimed, looking down at the little girl struggling to get away from him. "Hey, take it easy."

If anything, the little girl wriggled even more furiously.

Jack looked down at her, frowning. She looked... scared. No. _Terrified_. Of them?

"What are you scared of?" he asked, crouching down to her level. "We won't hurt you."

Over Jack's shoulder, North had gotten to his feet and was looking down at the little girl as well as she cowered into Jack's chest.

"Jack," North said, fingering something that glowed faintly, "look at this."

"What-" Jack started, turning around, but immediately paused when he saw what had captured North's attention.

The girl had massive amounts of hair, nearly twenty feet of it! It trailed silkily from her head like a golden river, snaking across the room and tangling around some of the furniture.

She whimpered and buried herself further into Jack's cape, shivering.

He frowned and turned back to her.

"Hey," he said again, trying to make his voice sound a bit less threatening. "I'm Jack Frost, what's your name?"

The girl looked up at him and met his stare for the first time, her green eyes wide in wonder.

"You're Jack Frost?" she asked in an awed voice.

He nodded, grinning cheekily as she squealed.

"You're Jack Frost!" she yelled happily, throwing her short arms around his waist and squeezing with all her might.

Jack froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. This little girl was the first child to greet him so enthusiastically in a very long time. He glared at North, who was smiling at him knowingly. North rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall, looking in the opposite direction. With a satisfied grin, Jack wrapped his arms around the girl, marveling at how warm she felt.

"I can't believe you're really real!" she said, pulling away. "Mother said you didn't exist!"

He frowned, tapping the end of his staff on the floor. "Well, here I am," he stated. "Now, would you mind telling me your name?"

The girl cupped her hands over her mouth and gave a fleeting look at a door to the side of the tower. "Rapunzel," she squeaked, before covering her mouth again.

Jack frowned, exchanging a worried glance with North.

"Rapunzel," said North, stepping forward. "Your hair, why is it so long?"

Rapunzel glanced at the door again before answering, "I can't tell you. Mother won't let me."

"Why are you in this tower then?" Jack asked.

"Mother said it's to protect me."

He wasn't so sure he liked the sound of Rapunzel's mother.

He grinned, accidentally making snow flurries fall from the ceiling. Rapunzel looked up at them in delighted incredulity.

"Do you do _everything_ your mother tells you?" Jack asked mischievously, leaning on his staff.

Rapunzel nodded eagerly and he scoffed.

"C'mon," he drawled, "live a little!"

"Uh Jack," North said from near the staircase; Jack had forgotten he was even there. "Do you sense that?"

"Sense what?" he asked. But just seconds after the words had left his mouth, he knew what North was talking about.

There was something about the tower; something threatening and cold. Something that dredged up all of his worst fears and made him want to curl up in a little hole and cry.

To be honest, he never thought he'd ever feel that way again, but it looked like he and the other guardians had been wrong.

Suddenly remembering how frightened Rapunzel had been at first, he looked down at the blond little girl in his arms and said, "Hey, Rapunzel, what were you so afraid of?"

She looked at him fearfully and squeaked. A sudden crash came from the top of the staircase and she backed away, tripping over her own hair.

The door at the top of the stairs flew open and a smoky black stallion came barreling out, its eyes glowing like rubies. It snorted, looking at Jack and North as they crouched into defensive poses, before it charged.

Jack dodged the nightmare and swept Rapunzel into his arms as he fell so that it wouldn't get to her. He felt something wrap around his ankle and tripped; Rapunzel's hair wrapped around both of them, successfully trapping him on the floor.

Something let out a loud bang and Jack turned to see a curvaceous woman with a mop of jet black hair come running out of the room Rapunzel had been looking to in fear. The woman held a lit torch in her hands and snarled when she saw North battling the nightmare.

"Mother!" Rapunzel squeaked from where she was tangled in her own hair.

The woman looked at her and then to North and the nightmare, scowling heavily.

"Rapunzel!" she chided. "What on Earth is going on here?"

Jack rose and held out a hand toward her, trying to calm her down. Suspicion was flaring up in every particle of his being as he realized the woman looked nothing like Rapunzel.

This was not her mother.

"I think the better question is, what are you doing?" he demanded. "Why have you kept a little girl locked up in this tower? She looks nothing like you! And why is her hair so long?"

"Who said that?" the woman demanded, raising her torch and glaring at North. "Was it you old man?"

North glared at her, slicing one of his swords at the nightmare. "I am not old! I am timeless!"

Jack frowned. The woman couldn't see him.

The nightmare let out an enraged whinny and charged North, who ducked, sending the stallion crashing through the woman.

"Aggh!" she yelled, dropping her torch with a clatter and fending off the nightmare with a silver dagger she had been holding, concealed in the folds of her ruby-colored dress.

"No! No, don't take my flower away from me! No! I need it! I don't want to be old! I want to be young forever!" the woman wailed horrifically, stumbling around and yanking at her hair.

"Mother!" Rapunzel whimpered.

The woman's foot hit the torch, sending it rolling, flame and all, toward the ends of Rapunzel's hair, which immediately ignited.

The woman's eyes flew back open and she watched, in horror, as the fire flicked up the twenty feet of Rapunzel's hair, almost to her scalp.

With a final lunge, North's sword sliced through the nightmare and it dissipated into black smoke. He lept toward Rapunzel then, seizing a part of her locks that hadn't been burned yet and cutting the rest of her hair off with his other sword.

The woman howled in agony, stumbling over to the burned hair and picking it up in her hands as her skin shrunk back into her face and her hair grew brittle and grey.

Jack swept a wailing Rapunzel up in his arms and covered her eyes. She shouldn't watch this.

Her hair was slowly turning brown from the roots and he watched as the color took hold of her previously-golden locks.

"Not my hair!" the woman screeched in a witch's voice, before she disintegrated into a pile of dust on the floor.

"Mother!" Rapunzel screamed again. She went limp in Jack's arms and sobbed into his chest.

He and North exchanged a meaningful look, understanding flowing between the two of them, and he hefted the little girl up higher, taking a softer tone.

"Come on," he whispered. "You can come live with us now, Rapunzel."

She nodded, still crying.

With a final look around the tower, Jack lept through the window and into the cold night sky, somehow knowing that his life had been changed forever.


	2. Accept

**Thaw**  
><strong>Chapter 2: Accept<strong>

"No Aurelia! I've tried for years and she's never come out. Why should things be any different now? I'm done. I'm not even going to bother anymore... and neither should you."

Aurelia watched hopelessly as Anna shut the door, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

It seemed that she would be doing this alone, then. At least now she knew how Anna had felt for the past eight years.

Or rather, she _thought_ she did.

There was a gaping hole in her heart; yawning out in front of Aurelia like the fiords to the castle. Everything around her was numb and didn't matter any more. She thought it might have dulled the pain a bit, but wasn't so sure.

With a deep breath, Aurelia turned and faced the door on the opposite wall.

For what felt like forever, Anna had visited this door at least once a day, and Aurelia had watched her.

She had watched as Anna begged, _pleaded_ with their older sister to come out from behind it. And Aurelia had watched as Anna fought back tears each and every time she turned away.

She had given up five months ago.

Aurelia could remember it vividly. Anna had been sobbing, slumped against the door, banging on it with her fists and crying for Elsa to come out, to talk with her and be her best friend again. Hours had passed before Anna had finally given up.

She hadn't said a word for the rest of that week.

Aurelia had always wondered why their Mother and Father had never intervened, and it seemed that now, she would never know the answer. Unless Elsa told her... but that wasn't likely to happen.

After all, if she wouldn't open up for Anna, who she had always been close with during their childhood, why would she do so for Aurelia, the outsider?

Aurelia knew that it wouldn't work, knew it from the bottom of her heart, but the priest at urged her to at least try. And in the end, that was all she could do, wasn't it? Try.

Taking a deep breath, Aurelia walked the last few steps across the hallway and raised her fist to the door. She looked at it, and the minutes ticked by on the grandfather clock at the top of the stairs.

She couldn't bring herself to do it.

Aurelia stared at her hand, poised above the wood, as it slowly unfurled from the fist into its normal shape.

"Elsa," she sang out softly, ignoring the lump that was growing in her throat. "_Please. I know you're in there... People are asking where you've been."_

There was a stinging behind her eyes, and Aurelia knew that they were probably brimming with unshed tears.

"_They say have courage, and I'm trying to!" _she continued, choking back a sob. Her voice had become harsher now, filled with desperation.

Aurelia didn't know how to be brave and reckless like Anna, or calm and collected like her father. She was still a child in the eyes of the world, having turned thirteen just two days before.

The tears fell freely now and she let them come, leaning her head against the door, begging to Elsa on the other side, "_I'm right out here for you, just let me in!_"

"_We only have each other_," Aurelia admitted, crying once again as the news finally sank in.

Mother and Father were gone, and she would never see them again.

A sob made its way out of her throat as Aurelia slid down the door, back against it.

"_What're we gonna do?_" she asked. Her words were so thick from the crying that she doubted Elsa could even understand her, but even so, Aurelia found herself saying the words that Anna had asked so many times before.

_"Do you wanna build a snowman?_"

And, on the other side of the door, Elsa let the first, frozen tear fall. With only a piece of wood separating them, the sisters were slumped back to back as she sang, in a barely audible whisper, "_I do..."_

Aurelia never heard her.


End file.
